Ericsson to Move its UK Headquarters Out of Guildford

Published on: 29 Mar, 2018
Updated on: 29 Mar, 2018

By Will Parsons

Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson is to move its UK headquarters out of Guildford Business Park, by the “Dennis Roundabout”, having been based there for 30 years.

It moving to a new office space in Reading and the move will start later this year.

The company currently has offices neighbouring the UK headquarters of Dutch technology company Philips and Colgate Palmolive, an American consumer products company. After the move, Ericsson will share a new commercial development in Reading, called the Thames Tower, with other big names including the Make-A-Wish Foundation charity and convenience food company Pret A Manger.

Ericsson’s 30-year lease for the Guildford office will expire in 2019. The move, which will begin towards the end of 2018, will allow Ericsson to bring staff from its offices in Guildford and Newbury together in a new UK headquarters.

A spokesperson for Ericsson said: “We wanted our new office environment to address a number of things: to meet the needs of our evolving business requirements; to be much more closely located to our customers; to enable us to attract the most talented ICT practitioners; to provide space that will enable a collaborative, balanced and flexible working environment; and to give access to a variety of convenient amenities and transport options. We believe that Thames Tower in Reading offers all of this and more.

“Guildford has been our home for 30 years and we’re sad to say farewell, particularly to its strong and supportive community. We’d like to extend our warmest thanks to everyone who has helped to make the city our home.”

The four main office buildings of Guildford Business Park, which front the A3 and A25, were first built in 1988 on the site of the Hestair Dennis motor works. The park was under public ownership by the Crown Estate until 2010, when it was sold to Legal & General Property for £55 million.

This evening (March 29, 2018) a jogger passing the business park, who said he was an Ericsson employee, said: “The announcement did not come as a shock because we knew the lease was about to expire and we guessed they would want to strip back and refurbish this unit as they have to another last year.

“We are sad to be leaving Guildford and I am not sure that the management tried hard enough to negotiate an option to stay. But Reading is on the M4 corridor, popular with technology companies, and the nature of the industry has meant that the workforce has shrunk.

“The company is offering some expenses to cover extra travel costs.”

Cllr David Bilbe, lead councillor at GBC for business development, was invited to comment.

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